However, those numbers will be far from the thoughts of Tigers coach Lori Blade and what sort of mentality she wants her team’s mindset to be heading into a Pekin Class 4A Sectional semifinal matchup against Belleville East at 4:30 p.m. Tuesday at the District 7 Sports Complex.

The winner will advance to the sectional championship game in Pekin on Saturday at 11 a.m. against the winner of Rock Island (26-5) and Bradley-Bourbonnais (22-11).

The Tigers (21-3), who already own two wins against the Lancers (28-7) this season, have won 13 in a row dating to May 29, 2013, when East won 4-2 in a sectional semifinal. EHS has outscored Belleville East by a staggering 104-26 in that run.

Impressive to say the least, but Blade hasn’t amassed 700-plus career victories to bask in the glory of the past. It’s all about the here and the now, and she knows it will be a tall task to knock off the Lancers a third time this season.

“That’s something we stress,” Blade said. “They did a great job winning the conference and beating them two times, but actually it just means that this (potential) win tomorrow, trying t get that will be even more difficult. Belleville East is traditionally good in the postseason. They’re playing really good right now, but these kids know this time of year, the little things are important. It doesn’t matter if it’s against East or Sacred Heart or what. We’re going to have to play well and get some timely hits to get that 14th (straight) win against them.

“We’ve just been fortunate enough to play well against them and put some runs on the board, which helps, but that last game (a 2-1 win on May 8) was as tough as it’s been. To be down, they pretty much had us and we tied it up late and then got the win late, but that’s neither here nor there.”

Edwardsville is coming off a 1-0 victory over Springfield Sacred Heart-Griffin that helped the Tigers claim the Alton Regional, their 12th regional title in he past 13 seasons.

East is coming off a 3-0 win over Collinsville to claim their fifth straight regional championship.

Both teams come in with potent offenses, so it could very well come down to the pitching of Edwardsville senior Jordyn Henricks (11-3, 2.61 earned-run average with 45 walks and 97 strikeouts) and East senior Kristina Bettis (21-5, 1.89 ERA, 53 BBs, 159 Ks).

“Jordyn threw really well on Saturday,” Blade said. “Her location was good, her velocity was good, her offspeed, she mixed it up really well, and that’s going to have to be the same thing tomorrow.

“... Jordyn’s going to have throw really well because they’re playing really well right now and they want to beat us as bad as they want to beat anybody. That’s going to be their mentality and we know that coming in.”

Bettis will have her hands full against an Edwardsville lineup that has averaged 8.6 runs per game and outscored the opponent 121-23 during a 14-game winning streak.

“It’s been a good mix of hitting for the last several weeks, that’s for sure,” Blade said. “It’s going to have to continue to do that. We had a few opportunities on Saturday to score and just couldn’t get one early and Kay (Swanson) came up with the big pinch hit after Maria (Smith) got on and we moved her over.

“They’re taking the perspective that I want them to take here in the postseason that they have to do the little things, and if that means get bunts down, pinch-running, pinch-hitting, whatever it is, they need to do for each other in order for us to have the chance to be successful. They’ve bought into that a little bit better lately than what they had. Up and down the lineup, I like where we’re at.”

Senior shortstop Anna Burke is paving the way with a 12-game hitting streak and she is seventh in the area in batting at .536. Burke leads the team in doubles (eight) and triples (five) and is second in RBIs (26) to Smith (28), a sophomore third baseman who is batting .436.

“Her pitch selection has been really good lately,” Blade said of Burke. “She’s really matured at the plate this year like she’s capable of doing and just doing a job. She’s not trying to do too much. She puts the ball in play and if she gets something to put a ball into the gap, then she’s jumped all over that at times. ... She doesn’t try to do too much in her at-bats, but her pitch selection’s been probably the biggest positive that she’s had.”

The Lancers have offensive weapons of their own, led by senior catcher Alexandra Boze, who leads East in batting average (.523), doubles (10), home runs (10) and RBIs (42). She’s tied for the team lead in hits (56) with Bettis, who comes in hitting .491.

Junior shortstop Alyssa Krausz comes also is batting .491 with a team-leading 15 doubles and five triples. She also has nine home runs and 46 RBI.

“They have some big hitters up and down the lineup and sprinkle in some speed with some lefties in there,” Blade said.

The Tigers will get to send nine seniors onto the field at home one final time.

And the Tigers would love nothing more than to go out at home with a bang.

“We have a lot of seniors and it’s great from that perspective to be at home, but I personally would rather the game be at Belleville East,” Blade said. “We have a tendency to play them better at their place than we do at ours, but that’s just my mindset. Kids will be excited to be at home for it and I think we’ll have a really good crowd coming out that’s going to see two very good, competitive teams go at it.

“I know we’re at home, but they always play well at our place. We know it’s not going to be easy, but we’re also blessed to have another home game with our (nine) seniors and to win that regional again was big.”